Rev Andy’s Blog

Robbie is a Kid Again!

We now have 11 moms and 22 children at Hope Gardens Family Center! The children are between the ages of 2 months and 10 years old and I have had a lot of fun playing adopted “Grandpa” to the children, buying all of the children bikes. I wish you could see 22 children darting around the campus on beautiful new bicycles!

With all of the activity around Hope Gardens and Union Rescue Mission, I have even developed a new exercise program. Each hot afternoon I push a cart full of water around Skid Row, delivering cold water to the folks left on the streets, to both strengthen and encourage them into coming into Union Rescue Mission. I then drive out to Hope Gardens to meet the children on the playground for a bit of a routine wrestling match the children have started between myself and whoever I can find to challenge the 22 children on the playground. Needless to say, I need some reinforcements, but it is whipping me into shape!

The other day I arrived to meet a new young mom. She was sitting and relaxing for a moment. I introduced myself and she did the same. Immediately, she thanked me for the opportunity to live at Hope Gardens Family Center. “It is so nice to not be wandering the streets all day until the emergency shelter opens up! My son, Robbie, is up playing on the playground,” as she pointed him out. “He a big guy for 6 and ½ years old but he is finally able to be a kid again! When you meet him, the first thing he will say is, ‘Have you seen my mom?’ ”
Sure enough, as I met this little husky guy, he asked, “Have you seen my mom?” Looking back on my childhood and how protective I was of my own mom, I believe Robbie has really been focused on protecting his mom during their time of homelessness and on the streets and in the San Fernando Valley emergency shelter. Now, Robbie is learning he can lighten up on protecting his mom because we are and take time to have lots of fun riding his bike, playing on the playground, and enjoying school.

What a joy to bring this type of relief to a precious mom and her little big guy! To think that this is happening to so many moms and kids is overwhelming – thank you to all who made it happen! –Rev. Andy Bales

The Worn Out Shoe

I won’t ever forget seeing Marjie’s eyes light up when we gave her the new purple, girlie bike at Hope Gardens. She zipped around the Hope Gardens Family Center campus, dodging speed bumps and enjoying the joy and freedom of cruising in open spaces. Later in the day, I saw her sit under the shade of an oak tree, lean back and look around to take in the amazing scenery and sense the peace that she was now experiencing. She looked like the picture of what I sense I might look like on the day that I arrive in heaven and take in the streets of gold, glassy sea, and Glory of God. Later, when I heard what she, her mom and little brother had experienced, I understood.

I learned that they had fled their home and abusive father; he continually broke her mom’s legs. Their escape landed them on the mean streets of Skid Row, sleeping in a box, where they witnessed a man being killed in front of their eyes as they scooted closer to the inside wall of the box and against a building to stay out of the violent situation. Their last stop before Hope Gardens was an agency doing the best that it could, as they struggle with NIMBY issues and don’t yet have a building of their own. Since this agency doesn’t have a building of its own, it causes the homeless moms and children to meet up in the afternoon at 4:30 each day and head to a number of rotating churches who opened up each evening to allow folks to eat dinner and sleep on the floor on sleeping cushions until 5:00 each morning. The families then had to walk the time away during the day until 4:30 would arrive again the next afternoon.

When Marjie and her mom and brother arrived at Hope Gardens Family Center, they slept in for quite awhile – as you can imagine exhaustion from the agency’s schedule. Mom was worn out, sick, and needed lots of rest. The family moved into a beautiful two room apartment with two baths; new bunk beds, made with care by men in a El Paso mission; new sheets and bedcovers, donated by friends of the Mission; and a beautiful place of their own amidst coast redwoods, oak trees, roses, and rolling grass.

In a recent story covered in the news, 9 year old Marjie held up her worn out shoe as a symbol and sign that her days of sleeping in a box or walking the hot pavement from 5:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. were over. The picture was powerful. The picture caused quite an uproar from folks who contemplated that little girl walking the hot pavement while some folks held up the families from moving to Hope Gardens Family Center. Marjie’s mom says that the shoe tells a thousand stories and Marjie will always keep it close to remind her of how far she has come and how well she is doing now. As of the day she moved in, Marjie is wearing a new pair of shoes. Thank you, for making this possible.

A New Day

What a weekend at Union Rescue Mission! Yesterday, on Sunday afternoon, we graduated one of our largest classes ever from our intense, year-long Christian Life Discipleship Program for men. 25 formerly homeless men proudly wore cap and gown and, in front of their very proud families and friends, celebrated their accomplishment of making it through this rigorous program that should help them greatly as they move from homelessness to success, purpose and a hopeful life. I told them their hard work at the Mission this year helped make it possible to move our moms and children to the safety and hope of Hope Gardens Family Center. As I considered their success, I thought of how their efforts have made it possible for children all over Los Angeles to avoid a future of homelessness and poverty completely. I told them how early Saturday morning I rolled out to Hope Gardens Family Center to connect with the moms and children and set up for a wedding we held for a co-worker, and former graduate of CLDP, Jeremiah, and his bride to be, Patricia. It was a beautiful day.

As I pulled into Hope Gardens, I saw a new little boy, happy and smiling, his blonde hair shining in the sun as he sped by on a borrowed bicycle. I introduced myself and he told me his name was Peter* and then he proceeded to tell me all about the world as we know it. He is an extremely bright 9 year old little guy and he and his mother are originally from Russia. I learned that he and the other 7 older children (ages 7-10) had been borrowing bicycles from the children of a Union Rescue Mission staff member, Scott Johnson, but, although it is a fun place to ride a bike, the bicycles were in short supply and causing some lines and friction. Seeing this, Scott and I invited Peter to come and be the expert in children and bicycles, and we took off to Wal-Mart. Peter rode in my car and I learned that this little boy from Russia likes listening to rap music (I deftly changed the channel to a mellow station while he was distracted). We had a great time getting acquainted – this little fellow knows much about a lot of things, including music, bicycles, cars, nature, and the world. Well, when we arrived at Wal-Mart, Peter proved to know his bikes, even where they were in the store! We picked out seven different bikes for each older child and one little bike with training wheels for one young lady around 4 years old. I wish you could have seen the faces of these youngsters and sensed the joy that I had in my heart as I realized that these little ones have a real shot at growing up healthy and whole and avoiding the struggles with homelessness and poverty that their moms and they have faced up to this point in their lives.

My heart was especially touched by one little girl, Margerie*. She is 9 and a beautiful little Latina girl. We bought her a sparkly purple bike made just for a precious girl like her. I learned that she and her mom and little brother had previously lived in an emergency shelter, and, just before that, lived in a box on Skid Row, where they saw a man murdered one night right in front of their eyes. What a delight to see her now dashing around the campus of Hope Gardens Family Center on her new bike! Thanks to all who have made this possible!

Rev. Andy B.

*names and photos changed to protect guest confidentiality